Culture shock

Published in The Post-Star (D1)
10/29/05

The sign on the door of McCann's Drug Store in Hudson Falls advertised: "All Cards $.99." So when Rev. Victor Achima Owan got to the cash register with his card and was charged $1.06, he was puzzled.

"I thought, are they trying to take advantage of me just because I'm new?" he said. "I finally asked someone, and they explained to me about sales tax."

Taxes weren't the only thing that shocked Owan when he arrived in this country in June 2003 to become an associate pastor at St. Mary's-St. Paul's Catholic Church in Hudson Falls. He came from another place named "Falls" — the town of Agbokim Water Falls in Nigeria — but the similarities ended there.

As an African getting his first taste of American culture, Owan's first months here were full of confusion and surprises. Those experiences inspired him to write a book called "Culture Shock," a self-published handbook to crossing the cultural divide between Nigeria and the United States. He hopes that his humorous personal narrative will smooth the way for others making a similar transition.

Something as simple as sneezing can be complicated in a foreign country.

"Back home, it's a sign of good health when you sneeze. It means that someone, somewhere, is speaking well of you. We look forward to it," explained Owan. "Here, each time I sneezed, people said, 'Are you OK?' and I didn't understand their concern."

He was equally baffled by the way people greeted him, which seemed rude and aggressive."Everyone shakes hands with such a firm grip here. That intimidated me at first," said Owan. "In my country, when somebody shakes your hand that way, they are sending you a message, and it's not a good one."

While making eye contact is a normal part of polite conversation in American culture, Nigerians show respect in the opposite way — by looking down when someone more important is addressing them.

"Having people look me right in the face used to make me so nervous that I would stammer," he said.

Now, 36-year-old Owan seems comfortable in his new life at St. Mary's-St. Paul's, where he said he's experienced nothing but love from parishioners and others in the community. He has learned how to wash dishes and is getting better at cooking — things that men just don't do in Nigeria.

Although he's the only Nigerian priest in the Albany diocese, and perhaps the only African in Hudson Falls, Owan said he hasn't encountered any racism. He likes to make jokes about how much his dark skin ("chocolate, not black," he insists) stands out in a crowd of pale northern New Yorkers.

"Once, I went out to dinner with two white friends, and the waitress gave them white doggie bags, but gave me a black one. I decided to give her a hard time about it, asking 'Am I not black enough?' " he said. "We were all cracking up."

When he first arrived here in June 2003, Owan was looking forward to his first sight of snow. For months, he prayed for it to fall from the sky, and when it finally did, he ran outside and jumped in the snow like a child. But after two winters in upstate New York, he's starting to understand what it means to have too much of a good thing.

"I think God was too generous with me," he said, laughing.
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